Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical instruments having a reusable handle and a disposable end effector. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a chip assembly for use in a stapling instrument having a disposable loading unit.
Background of Related Art
Powered surgical instruments for use in endoscopic procedures are known. Typically, such instruments include a reusable handle assembly and a disposable end effector. An adapter assembly connects the end effector to the handle assembly. In the case of a surgical stapler, the end effector includes a disposable cartridge or reload assembly that is changed after each firing of the surgical stapler. To reduce costs and shorten procedure times, the handle assemblies are generally configured for use with a variety of reload assemblies of various configurations for use on tissue having different properties, i.e., thickness, density. For example, the different reload assemblies may have staples of different sizes and/or the staples may be arranged in different configurations. To ensure the handle assembly is programmed to operate with the attached reload assembly, some reload assemblies are provided with a chip that communicates to the handle assembly the configuration of the reload assembly. As such, the configuration of the reload assembly is automatically relayed to the handle assembly upon attachment of the reload assembly to the adapter assembly, thereby eliminating any user error that may be experienced during manual programming of the handle assembly when switching between reload assemblies with different configurations.
Surgical staplers are generally used for stapling tissue within a body cavity where the end effector is likely to come in contact with fluids, i.e., blood, bile, irrigation solutions. If any fluids were to contact the chip or the connections between the chip and the handle assembly, the chip would short-circuit, rendering the surgical stapler inoperable.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to have a chip assembly configured to limit exposure of the chip and the connections between the chip and the handle assembly to fluids during a stapling procedure.